Page 73 - Next Generation 2015 - Digtial Issue

Next Generation Technology

‘bolt-ons’ such as scrubbers and Big data from nanotechnology could allow paints, coatings and materials to give signals of
below-waterline appendages, through performance
to reductions in ship power, are
all becoming standard options in we hear pumps and engines talking Financial structures are likely to
shipping. through sensors today, could make be challenged. We have increasingly
huge impacts at many levels. moved in some trades, principally
Additionally, larger containerships containers, to models where the
(requiring specialised understanding I have also said before that we operators’ ships are off their balance
of hull structures) are creating scale could be looking at a fundamental sheet. Generally I don’t like to compare
efficiencies. But the efficiencies of large change in the skillsets required by shipping with aviation, but power by
containerships are being undermined shipbuilders and class societies: will the hour financing for engines as seen
by the inability of ports to handle the next generations of ship designers in aviation finance is an example of
the landside aspects of container be made up of mathematicians and something at which the industry could
movements. chemists, as well as naval architects, be looking.
engineers and metallurgists?
The question is whether this goes We always need to remember that
far enough? That depends what goals At Lloyd’s Register, we are heavily change in shipping can only reflect
we are set by regulators and customers involved in all the main key areas of change in society and if we see what is
(or that we set ourselves). If society research and development that could happening in business and consumer
decides to act effectively in reducing change our shipping world. We need society, we have to expect these
greenhouse gas emissions, then to be ready for the zero-carbon ship changes to be embraced by shipping.
something more radical is going to be and for solutions that provide a total
required and probably necessitate a circle from cradle to grave (in fact, Tom Boardley is marine director
total move away from fossil fuels. eliminating the conventional grave). of Lloyd’s Register

Exploring fuel options and making
containerships bigger are all important
actions in developing a solution to this
challenge but a larger technological
and financial revolution will require
us to look at what’s already out there
and investigate a completely fresh
approach.

The power of the wind and
tapping into solar energy stored in
ever more efficient batteries (look at
what the Tesla founder, Elon Musk,
is doing) could offer answers. Voyage
information, data from ship structures,
components and machinery, which is
centrally collected and used to enhance
performance, will be sought. Likewise
logistics will be improved to shift
containers (or whatever might replace
them) more efficiently.

Big data from nanotechnology
could allow paints, coatings
and materials to give signals of
performance, enabling us to hear
the hull talking in the same way that

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